


I Remember Now

by orphan_account



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Elliot forgets things, Joanna makes it all better, M/M, Other characters are just mentioned, Tyrell is sad, but he tries to hide it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-16
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-26 16:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5011129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three words was all it took.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Remember Now

**Author's Note:**

> I have fallen too deep into this fandom and ship, I am ~~not~~ SO sorry.

No matter where Elliot goes, Tyrell's always there somehow. Whether it be at the grocery store because Flipper needs a new package of food, Tyrell will be there attempting to look casual while browsing the sandwiches at the deli, or on the streets whenever Darlene pulls him along on her trips to the thrift store. He doesn't blend in well, his suit is painfully obvious and people stare at him for just being there, because what's a rich man in rich clothes doing in a place where pickpockets and junkies are?

Elliot tries to ignore it, of course. It's not that hard because Tyrell seemed to be content with keeping his distance. He hasn't talked about it to anyone, but maybe he'd told Shayla about him while he was teetering on the edge of going over his regular dose of morphine, because she's always looking around whenever they spend time together. He can't be sure, but he won't bring it up because what if it turns out that she actually didn't know? She'd probably go to Angela and tell her about his stalker. The two have become friendly over the past few weeks and it was a little odd, not that Elliot was complaining. His friends were getting along.

Darlene's getting suspicious though. He used to keep his door simply locked with the switch, but he'd begun to use the chain and deadbolt ever since Tyrell started appearing everywhere, and Darlene's always swinging by to check up on him. She can still get in, however. Picking a lock, unhooking the chain, and unlocking the deadbolt's really easy with a few basic items and skills, but she asked Elliot about it one day, and he was forced to say that someone tried to break in one day, while he was inside.

Elliot was one hundred percent sure that Darlene didn't buy it, but she didn't push and so he didn't try to come up with something better.

Angela doesn't visit as often now, but she still calls regularly and asks about him. Elliot usually answers with mediocre "fines" and "I'm doing okay's" and deflects the question right back to her. People like to talk about themselves and Angela was no different. She had gotten the promotion she'd been aiming for for months now since her ex's stupid cheating. What was his name?

Oliver? Ollie?

She'd gotten asked out for a date this coming Saturday and Elliot offered her a good luck and an "I'm happy for you." His voice was always so monotone or sarcastic, over the phone or in person, but he hoped his sincerity had come across clearly.

Trenton's always so quiet around him, but she'd opened up a lot since their first meeting. She and Darlene had come out as a couple not too long ago, probably a week or two tops, and Elliot had thanked whoever was listening for it. Maybe Darlene would take her girlfriend to her hipster clothing hauls instead of him, where he'd just sit outside the fitting rooms and give Darlene a thumbs up here and then. Perhaps a comment on how the golden studs fitted her better than the silver ones.

All the while avoiding Tyrell's gaze throughout the whole hour, trying to look unaffected by the holes being burned into the back of his head.

Gideon called him up to his office one day and asked about how he was doing. He gave the answer he gave everyone, and the man nodded with a smile that was a little off. Elliot didn't pay it any mind until his boss asked him about Tyrell. He panicked for a solid thirty seconds before Gideon started to look worried, and he forced himself to calm down. After all, it was impossible for the man to know he had the Swede tailing him everywhere, lagging just several feet behind him. Elliot rarely saw his boss out of work. He was fine.

Elliot decided the safest route was to ask how Gideon knew he was seeing the blond. He played it off like he and Tyrell were simply acquaintances who just started talking, not the stalker and the one being stalked. The man's phone rang before he could answer, and he shot Elliot a sad, almost pitying smile before Elliot left the room to leave him with some privacy for the company call.

Elliot was incredibly confused, but it wasn't concerning. No one knew what was happening between him and Tyrell.

It had been a week after the conversation with Gideon that Elliot saw Tyrell in public again. It was at a local convenience store and Elliot was just buying a few snacks and other things to last him the week, and he saw Tyrell paying for a cup of shitty coffee at the register. There was a Starbucks place not too far from here, and it sure had better coffee than what they had here. Elliot would know. He'd tried their vanilla latte once.

It was pretty good.

Elliot watched as Tyrell exited the convenience store from behind an aisle and he payed for his food quickly, almost ripping the plastic bag from the cashier's hands after he'd received his change. He tried to speed through the door and down the street as swift as possible, but Tyrell was there to step in his way. It was late afternoon, almost evening what with the sliver of sun that was left painting the sky in dark golds, oranges, and pinks. There were people walking along the sidewalk, and they went around Elliot and Tyrell easily but with irritation. The hacker was frozen in place while the blond waited patiently.

He couldn't take it anymore. He needed answers.

"Why are you following me," Elliot said more than asked, eyes locked on Tyrell's blue tie rather than his eyes, hands tightening around the handles of his plastic bag. "I've been seeing you everywhere I go, whoever I'm with, and I want– _I need to know why_."

He finally raised his head to look at Tyrell and frowned when he saw a crestfallen expression on the man's face. It wasn't a normal expression on the Senior Vice President of Technology, unlike the looks of pride and arrogance he usually wore while taking to Evil Corp's higher-ups.

The slight pout disappeared almost as soon as Elliot saw it, replaced with a fake smile.

"I'm sorry if you see this as harassment, Elliot, truly." He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair, causing locks to fall out of place and in front of his eyes. "To apologize, I hope you will accept my invitation for dinner."

Elliot's eyes widened and he looked around warily to see if anyone had overheard their conversation.

"Oh, no, not like that Elliot," Tyrell hurried to say, noticing the way Elliot's shoulders tensed further and looked like a frightened animal, ready to bolt. "Joanna will be there, of course. And the baby. We will not be alone, Elliot." He raised a hand to settle on Elliot's forearm, but hesitated and let his arm fall to his side. Elliot was too afraid and confused right now, and laying a finger on him would only drive him further away. "And even if we were, I have no intentions of betraying your trust, Elliot."

Elliot looked at him skeptically, but after a few minutes of searching Tyrell's face, eyes, and body language for any unsaid intentions he gave up, his tension's departure leaving him a very limp noodle. He almost dropped the plastic bag in his hand but Tyrell caught it and gently extracted it from his grip, leading him with a hand on his elbow to his sleek black car after Elliot had absently muttered a weak "okay."

The car ride to Tyrell's house was silent and filled with uncertainty, but also with a sense of familiarity which confused Elliot even more. He was sure he's never ridden in this car without being dragged into it before. Why did it feel so...normal?

It didn't take long to arrive in front of a nice house in a nice neighborhood, the opposite of Elliot's own, and he apparently took too long staring at its architecture because Tyrell was suddenly blocking his view, having opened the car door for him. He trailed behind the man and stood off to the side, looking down the street and at the other houses, all similar in style to Tyrell's, until the blond called his name, once more with the door open for Elliot. He reluctantly took a step forward, politely taking a few moments to clean the bottoms of his shoes on the mat before he went in.

The interior of the house was pleasant. It's light-colored walls nice on the eyes paired with soft lights and matching furniture. There was no clutter, not that Elliot was expecting any less from Tyrell, and a female's voice sounded from the kitchen.

"Elliot, you go on ahead to the dining room, Joanna will already be there," Tyrell smiled down at him, gesturing for Elliot to leave his backpack by the door. "I will not be long."

He disappeared down the hall and a turn, and Elliot slowly set his backpack down before walking to the kitchen. Joanna was cooing at the baby in her arms while a freshly baked pasta dish sat at the center of the dining table, surrounded by porcelain, cutlery, and glasses filled with sparkling water. He shifted on his feet awkwardly for a minute before Joanna acknowledged his presence and walked over to greet him with something as close to a hug as possible with a baby in her hold.

"Elliot. It's so good to see you so well. I didn't exactly believe that Tyrell would be able to convince you to have dinner with us," she smiled, and followed Elliot's gaze to the set table, where three plates were prepared. "But I did hope."

The hacker shook his head and looked at Joanna before staring at the baby boy in her arms. He looked like he was near his first birthday and was already squirming and giggling in his mother's arms. "Why would you hope that I'd come?"

The only sound was of the bathroom mirror smashing into pieces and the baby making incomprehensible noises. Elliot didn't bother turning his head to look in the direction of the bathroom. Instead, he focused on Joanna's downcast eyes and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You really don't remember, do you Elliot?" she asked under her breath, seeking to calm the wriggling baby in her arms with soothing circles on his back.

_What was she talking about?_

"You don't remember Tyrell, me…or the baby."

_What? I don't…_

She walked over to the table by the foyer, picked up the black picture frame there, and went back to him, the baby quiet and silently staring up at Elliot while Joanna looked at the photo behind the glass. "You forgot again, didn't you Elliot?"

He furrowed his eyebrows and took the picture frame out of her hands and stared down at it, not peeling his eyes away from it even when the bathroom door opened and closed, or when the baby started making grabby hands for him. In the picture was Joanna at the hospital, the newly born baby boy in her arms with Tyrell to her right, closest to the camera that was most likely taken by a nurse. Other than the fact that Tyrell was smiling like the proudest father to ever exist, it was so normal and personal that Elliot had no idea why Joanna was showing it to him.

But then he focused on someone else who was in the picture, someone who was standing on Joanna's other side which, from the camera angle, was behind the bed.

_It was him._

And he was smiling. Not as bright as Tyrell was or as tired as Joanna looked, but he was wearing a small, happy smile as he looked not at the camera, but at the baby. Everything was slowly coming together, puzzle pieces were gradually connecting, forming the missing memories in Elliot's head from little details and clues from Tyrell's home.

Tyrell stepped into the room and kept himself at a safe distance away from Elliot, who was still staring at the picture as if taking a while to process it, and cleared throat. "Elliot?"

The hacker looked up from the frame and stared at the boy in Joanna's hold. He was sucking on his thumb while gazing up at him with bright blue eyes and Elliot didn't know if it was Tyrell's crystal or Joanna's icy blue. He raised his free hand towards him, and the baby immediately giggled and wrapped it's little hand around his finger. Elliot smiled softly, barely processing the sigh that came from Tyrell.

He set the picture down on the dining table and carefully took the boy from Joanna and bounced him in his arms, chuckling when the baby started to grab his cheeks to squeeze them, and the strings of his hoodie to pull them and scrunch up the hood. Elliot looked up to see Tyrell's wistful eyes, and the edges of his vision blurred a little. Burned a little from the sight of him sad and looking like a kicked puppy.

Elliot knew there were three words that would always wipe the tears away and replace them with happiness. He knew. Everything was back in place. Everything was crystal clear and he could see that Tyrell needed reassurance that his lapse was over, and Elliot could give it to him.

Three words, that's all.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this with the idea that Elliot was in a relationship with Tyrell since before the whole show started sort of, and in this AU Joanna is their willing surrogate and so the baby is technically all three of theirs. Elliot still has his illness and he forgets things but usually not anything this big like him and Tyrell.
> 
> This is my first fic for this fandom and I'm really nervous.


End file.
